Did you dine out on Christmas Day?

Restaurants see big business in holiday feasting

Forget those long, lazy Christmas mornings of unwrapping presents and enjoying the company of friends and family at home. At Good Enough to Eat, a beloved brunch and dinner spot on New York’s Upper West Side, there was bacon to be fried and pancake batter to be mixed — and a host of customers to greet.

MarketWatch/Charles Passy

Christmas Day diners line up outside New York’s Good Enough to Eat, where there was an hour wait for brunch tables.

The 80-seat restaurant, a fixture with locals, tourists and celebrities alike, was open on Christmas Day for the first time in its 33-year history. And even before the 11 a.m. brunch mealtime, it was fielding dozens of calls from would-be diners, who wanted to know if they could guarantee themselves a table (alas, the eatery took reservations for dinner only).

On top of that, restaurant staffers had more than 60 takeout orders to prepare, including one for an elaborate $500 spread, replete with turkey, ham and a few of the restaurant’s signature cakes and pies.

As manager Scott Chilvers observed, the decision to open could be seen as a sign of the changing times: America is a country that loves to dine out — and the holidays are no longer an exception to that rule, whether the feasting involves fast food or fine dining. It’s a far cry from the situation just five years ago, said Chilvers, when “the only thing you got on Christmas Day was Chinese food.”

Indeed, the question for hungry holiday revelers in 2013 may have been, “What’s not open?” Major restaurant chains and independent eateries alike did big business, capitalizing on a trend that’s been building over the last few years. Boston Market started opening in select locations on Christmas in 2012, saying sales have been strong on both the dining-in and takeout fronts (takeout constituted 48% of Christmas Day revenue in 2013, the chain says).

McDonald’s has also seen many of its franchise-owned eateries open on Christmas — in fact, in 2012, the fast-food giant made the point of encouraging such openings, saying at the time that “our largest holiday opportunity as a system is Christmas Day. Last year, (company-operated) restaurants that opened on Christmas averaged $5,500 in sales,” according to a memo obtained by Advertising Age.

But the trend extends to fine dining, too. Chef Hugo Bolanos, who heads up Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant at the Hotel Bel-Air in Beverly Hills, Calif., says demand is strong on Christmas Day. Bolanos admits that it is fairly standard for a hotel eatery to be open on Dec. 25 as a convenience for guests. But he says the restaurant has seen solid business from non-guests, too. “You would be surprised to know how many people enjoy going out to a restaurant over the holidays,” he said.

What’s driving the trend? For starters, restaurant industry insiders and analysts say the holiday boom speaks to the growing interest in dining overall (since 2000, industry annual sales have surged from $379 billion to $660.5 billion, according to the National Restaurant Association). Additionally, as experts note, America has increasingly become a multicultural, on-the-go society that doesn’t always heed the traditions of religious or other holidays: Just consider how many stores made the call this year to open on Thanksgiving Day and get a jump start on Black Friday.

But for restaurants, the turning point may have been five years ago during the height of the Great Recession, says Bret Thorn, senior food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade publication. Faced with a slump in sales, eateries started making the call to open on the holidays to offset the declines, Thorn says. And when they saw the heavy volume of customers, a one-time fix became an annual ritual, especially given the still somewhat precarious state of the economy.

“In general, restaurants are leaner and meaner today and more aware of capitalizing on any opportunity,” said Thorn.

Which isn't to say everyone in the industry is applauding or embracing the trend, particularly since it can put a burden on restaurant employees who might otherwise spend the holiday with their loved ones. “Today, many restaurants throughout the country will be open for the simple greed of corporate owners,” said Jonathan Smiga, president of Barnie’s CoffeeKitchen, a Florida-based chain.

Back at New York’s Good Enough to Eat, manager Scott Chilvers insisted the decision to open wasn’t based on money, but on simple customer demand. He may have a point: As of noon on Christmas Day, there were at least 50 customers lined up outside the restaurant in the freezing cold. Chilvers said the wait for a table was “about an hour.” And he was already fielding questions about whether the restaurant would be open on New Year’s Day, too.

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